Category Archives: Uncategorized

Well, it looks like WordPress was too good to actually post my last update, and it didn’t save a draft

While I haven’t posted anything in four days, the majority of my waking hours have been spent listening to, studying, or studying about Japanese. I’m not a quitter!– I just have a full time big-boy job, and projects this week have necessitated long hours and full attention.

…But that doesn’t mean I’ve been giving them full attention. While I’m at my desk I’m: listening to Japanese podcasts (I’m becoming a fan of JUNK’s collection and Suntory Saturday Something-something), practicing my ひらがな reading skills by going to Japanese websites and parsing the sentences, and doing WaniKani and Anki cards when I can. My brain is full, but not burning. If it was a car, it would be revving, not uh, topping– er… car reference. Basically I’m doin’ a-okay.

TO SUMMARIZE: I’VE GOT HIRAGANA MEMORIZED BUT NOT MASTERED, I’VE STARTED WORKING ON KANJI MEMORIZATION, I’M GIVING TEXTFUGU A SHOT, AND I’M ABSOLUTELY JONESING FOR A SOME SKITTLES RIGHT NOW.

In what relatively little research I’ve done, the advice I keep hearing over and over again is “Learn Japanese in Japanese.” As in, “Romaji only hurts you.”

So now, I must start my adventure in to the world of kanas. It looks like the best way to go is start with hiragana (ひらがな). I suppose I need to get used to that.

I’m noticing that I’m learning the hiragana in a strange way. For example, the hiragana for hiragana. If you were to ask me what ひ was, I’d know it was “hi” because it’s the beginning of the word hiragana. The same with words like お茶. I know recognize that as “o-cha,” and know I know “o”!

Fascinating.

Edit: Less than an hour later, and I realized I couldn’t remember a single kana for the word hiragana. I guess it’s back to rote for me.

Edit 2: Just got the vowels down pat through rote. I guess that’s the way to go. Why over complicate things!

Well. That’s a lie. This is probably my tenth “Day One.” I suffer from being a Three-Day Monk, and I suffer horribly. It pains me how often I start and stop learning a language. Well, that habit ends now. Not only will I learn Japanese, I will become fluent in it. I will fully immerse myself in the language, and I will go from a three-day monk to a… well, a bi-lingual guy.

Why am I learning Japanese?

I find the culture fascinating, and I want to immerse myself in it.

I wish to one day visit Japan and not have to rely on a translator.

I enjoy Japanese media: novels, television, manga, music, you name it.

These reasons aren’t going to win any awards for originality, but they are mine, and I will succeed with them in mind.